March 03, 2010

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

You may already know that I’m not a networker by nature. In fact, some situations make me want to curl up in a ball and die on the spot. For better or for worse, starting this blog has forced me to address this problem at photo shoots and other events.

Earlier this afternoon, I got another chance to network and connect with strangers and a few people I had previously met. I was invited to BNI Bay Street’s Visitors Day, where members invite guests to sit in on one of their weekly meetings. However, I didn’t just sit idly while business was conducted. In addition to bringing an unused box of Moo cards for potential connections, I prepared a thirty-second infomercial outlining my “business.” At its end, I planned to use the byline on the cards as the memory hook: “One man + two cameras = way too many photos.” Unsurprisingly, this is not what I did when my turn came up. While other guests were doing their infomercials, I started thinking of a more memorable ending line.

Sometime yesterday evening, I tweeted about how my previous entry was named after a song lyric (as opposed to a title). At about that time, Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” popped up in my mind as a title I could have used. Still, I left the entry as it was and went to sleep a bit later.

As my turn to speak came closer this afternoon, I determined that a variation of Ms. Benatar’s song title would be my memory hook. How could I spin it to fit my business, though?

“My name is Tsar Kasim* and I’ll hit you with your best shot.”

When there are two other photographers in the same room, you either come out swinging or go home.